Thank you so much for all of you who made it to the AMM on 10th November 2011. I think it provided an excellent reflection of the past year.

As a team of volunteers we have developed and provided services for so many parents within Chester and we should be really proud of our achievements. We all have busy lives and other commitments and still we manage to meet up, plan, organise, campaign for the rights of parents, raise funds and provide support for others.

A big "thank you" must go to Jane who has spent a lot of time including late nights and early mornings over the past year planning the IVF campaign, team meetings, writing the "e-newsletters, articles for NatChats, providing advice and guidance nationally to other Chairs, providing substantial support for the Nearly New Sales, answering emails, setting up Bumps and Babes and of course negotiating with SureStart to secure venues for the groups that we have been running!! We all go the extra mile but Jane seems to have had her running gear on throughout especially to manage all of this along with the birth of Rachel and Faye in December and looking after the lovely Hazel. I know that Jane is not planning on going too far away and will still be involved with the branch and for those of you on Twitter I am sure that you will see that she is still active however I did want to note that she shared her skills and time generously with the branch - Thank you Jane!

There are so many volunteers who have helped this year many of whom probably won't see this page, so if you do meet any volunteers on your travels who you know have been part of this success please let them know that they were appreciated.

Carrie and I are looking forward to volunteering alongside many of you in 2012 and keeping this excellent branch thriving.

Read the full minutes of the meeting to find out more about our achievements and what we have planned for 2012.

Michelle Collins
NCT Chester Joint Chair